Miranda Hart is to return to Call The Midwife for the Christmas special and the forthcoming sixth series, which is expected to air in 2017.

The 43-year-old will reprise her role as midwife Camilla "Chummy" Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne after missing series five, which was broadcast earlier this year.

A spokesman for Neal Street Productions, the company which makes BBC One's popular series, confirmed Hart's return in a statement.

"We've been bursting to share the news that Chummy has now left the Mother and Baby Home and is heading back to Poplar for series six," it said.

"We're thrilled to be once again featuring Miranda Hart and her fabulous blend of warmth, strength and vulnerability, as Chummy gets to grips with the medical and social challenges of the 1960s."

The statement continued: "Restored to Nonnatus House, Chummy will relish her return to the bustling world of the East End of London.

"Chummy appears briefly in the Christmas special but returns to centre stage in episode one, when she is called upon to support a local mum in a difficult situation."

Hart has appeared in Call The Midwife since its 2012 premiere.

Based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, the show explores midwifery in east London in, and from, the 1950s.

Miranda, the Devon-born star's eponymous comedy series, had made her a household name in the UK.

But her profile soared when she secured the role of Chummy as Call The Midwife is also broadcast in the US on the PBS network.

An increasing work schedule, which included touring her one-woman show and movie appearances in the likes of Jason Statham's Spy, impacted on her time.

She missed most of series four of Call The Midwife and was unable to appear in last year's Christmas special and the series that followed.

At the time, she said: "I am very sad not to have been able to be involved in series five but, on the plus side, maybe Chummy can come back in the next series an enlightened, crazed '60s hippy, having an affair with Paul McCartney."

In series six, the midwives will also dispense some of their knowledge in South Africa. The stars have already started filming in Cape Town.